Afternoon summary
Rishi Sunak has said he wants to await the outcome of the inquiry into the aggessive messages sent by Gavin Williamson to a fellow Tory MP before deciding whether or not to sack him from his ministerial post. See 3.35pm.
Sunak has stressed the importance of working with countries like France to cut the number of small boat Channel crossings, and said that talks with EU leaders on the subject at Cop27 left him with “renewed confidence and optimism” about being able to address the problem. See 4.32pm.
That is all from me. Our Cop27 coverage continues on our live blog.
Sturgeon says developed countries must pledge money to address loss and damage caused by climate crisis
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has said the developed countries should agree to pay money to developing countries to address the “loss and damage” they are experiences as a result of the climate crisis. In comments released ahead of the opening of Cop27, she said:
For many countries, particularly in the global south, this must be the Cop where the global north not only delivers on our promises to finance adaptation and mitigation, but recognises the need to address the loss and damage experienced by countries already impacted by climate change.
Last year, Scotland became the first developed nation to pledge finance to address loss and damage and others have now followed suit, including Wallonia and Denmark. This shows just how important the action of smaller governments can be, and I know many countries and campaigners hope to see other countries, particularly in the north, step up and make Cop in Egypt the loss and damage Cop.
Aid spending is primarily a responsibility for the UK government, but the Scottish government has committed £2m from its global justice fund to address loss and damage.
At @COP27P, First Minister @NicolaSturgeon met with representatives from Global South countries.
— First Minister (@ScotGovFM) November 7, 2022
They discussed first-hand experience of #lossanddamage and how vital urgent funding and direct action is to helping mitigating the impacts. pic.twitter.com/DGQhAOMkSL
Updated
Here is a Guardian video about the protesters calling for the Manston processing centre for migrants to be closed.
Back to Gavin Williamson for a moment, and here are two articles about the row published today that are illuminating.
Paul Goodman at ConservativeHome says that, while the menacing elements of Williamson’s messages to Wendy Morton were unacceptable, “it would be dispiriting to see MPs forced to communicate in woke language that might be used in an American law firm”. He says the row shows how the culture at Westminster has changed.
It’s worth pointing out that it is novel to see two former chief whips, holders of a post renowned for its circumspection, to see their beans spilled all over the front pages of the Sunday papers, whatever the source of the story.
And to see a former party chairman in the mix. And for that same former chairman – another post renowned for its loyalty to the colours – to have openly attacked a cabinet minister.
Both incidents are symptoms of the replacement of a culture of discretion by a culture of disclosure – fuelled by the gradual erosion of the old post-war military culture in the Commons, the rise of celebrity, a decline in loyalism, whips with less patronage, the effect of social media and Covid lockdowns, and post-Brexit strains on Party unity.
This is not to say that the old ways were better than the new ones. They are better for the legislature and worse for the executive, better for lobby journalists and worse for Tory togetherness, better for openness and worse for privacy (and secrecy).
And Stephen Bush in the Financial Times says it is hard for Sunak to excuse Williamson while defending his own integrity.
The prime minister’s professed dismay at Williamson’s exchanges are similar to his claim that he brought Suella Braverman back to government in order to tackle crime and immigration (as if Braverman were the only member of the Conservative party to be bothered by those things). It’s obviously not true and it’s obvious he knows it’s not true.
The trouble for Sunak is that he can’t really come out and admit that his government was a co-creator of an economic crisis and that he is too weak to tackle that crisis, without looking weak and annoying people within his own party. But he also can’t defend his government without looking and sounding like a man who spouts obvious falsehoods. That undermines one of the few assets he and his party has: his own standing in the country as a whole.
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Government axes Johnson's plan for £250m national flagship to replace Royal Yacht Britannia
A £250m scheme to create a successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia has been scrapped as part of a squeeze on government spending, PA Media reports.
The national flagship plan was sunk by Rishi Sunak’s administration as Whitehall braced for cuts in the 17 November autumn statement by chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
The plan was championed by Boris Johnson when he was prime minister, but has faced criticism from MPs at a time when there are other priorities for defence spending.
Defence secretary Ben Wallace told MPs this afternoon he was prioritising the procurement of the multi-role ocean surveillance ship (MROSS) instead of the flagship.
“In the face of the Russian illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and [Vladimir] Putin’s reckless disregard of international arrangements designed to keep world order, it is right that we prioritise delivering capabilities which safeguard our national infrastructure,” he said.
That meant he had “also directed the termination of the national flagship competition with immediate effect to bring forward the first MROSS ship in its place”.
The vessel had been expected to be constructed in the UK and take to the water in 2024 or 2025, and would have toured the world as a “floating embassy”.
But the Daily Telegraph, which has been campaigning for a replacement for Britannia, reported that the two private consortia bidding for the work were told on Monday morning that the project is being axed.
The Commons defence committee warned in 2021 that there was “no evidence of the advantage to the Royal Navy of acquiring the national flagship” and that the initial expenditure of around £250m combined with the £20-30m a year running costs and providing a crew, would pile extra pressure on the senior service.
Last month Alec Shelbrooke, a defence minister, revealed that £2.5m has already been spent on developing plans for the national flagship.
Sunak stresses importance of working 'constructively' with EU countries to cut number of small boat Channel crossings
And here is a full summary of the lines from Rishi Sunak’s interview with the BBC’s Chris Mason.
Sunak said he had “renewed confidence and optimism” about being able to tackle the problem of small boat Channel crossings after his talks with fellow European leaders at Cop27. He said he had discussed the issue with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and other EU leaders. He said:
I’m actually leaving with renewed confidence and optimism that, working together with our European partners, we can make a difference, grip this challenge of illegal migration and stop people coming illegally.
He said cooperation with other European countries on this was essential. He said:
We need to reduce the number of people coming here illegally. And that’s going to require the home secretary and others to work constructively with partners around Europe to stop people coming in the first place. And there’s a range of things we need to do to make that a reality.
He said more details about the government’s plans would be announced in the coming weeks.
Sunak’s emphasis on the importance of cooperation with the French and others to address this problem marks a change of tone from the 10-point plan to end illegal immigration that he announced when running for the Tory leadership in the summer. Only two of those proposals involved working with European partners, and even those were not phrased in diplomatic language. One idea was summarised as “holding the French to account with clear targets for stopping boats”, and the other as “sending failed asylum seekers and foreign criminals back home”.
But Sunak also said there was “not one simple solution” to the small boats problem. And he refused to answer when he was asked when the government would be able to start cutting the number of people the Channel in small boats, or by how much. (See 3.21pm.)
Sunak said the government was making “very good progress” on cutting the number of people being held at the Manston migration centre. He ducked a question on whether Suella Braverman, the home secretary, was to blame for creating the overcrowding problem there in the first place. His interview coincided with Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, telling MPs that numbers at Manston are now below the official 1,600 capacity. (See 3.42pm.)
Sunak said he wanted to await the outcome of the CCHQ inquiry into the complaint about Gavin Williamson using aggressive language in messages to Wendy Morton, the then chief whip, before deciding his future. (See 3.35pm.)
Sunak said he hoped to met the Egyptian president later today and that he intended to raise the case of imprisoned writer Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who is on hunger strike.
Sunak would not rule out Matt Hancock, the former health secretary, having the Tory whip restored before the next election. Hancock has had the whip withdrawn for taking part in I’m a Celebrity. Sunak restated his disappointment with Hancock’s decision. Asked if Hancock would be able to get the whip back, he said that was a decision for the chief whip.
He claimed that the fact that Boris Johnson attended Cop27 reflected well on Britain. He said:
It’s great that the former prime minister is here … It just demonstrates our leadership on this issue globally.
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Sir Roger Gale (Con), the MP who tabled the urgent question on Manston and whose constituency covers the processing centre, said the problem with over-crowding was “wholly avoidable”.
That was a reference to Suella Braverman, the home secretary, whose handling of Manston Gale has repeatedly criticised.
Gale asked for an assurance that the temporary units set up at Manston to provide accommodation would be dismantled. He said that it was meant to be a processing centre, not an accommodation centre, and that if the new units stayed up, it could be used for accommodation again.
Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, said he would consider this request, but that he did not think that would be possible “right now”. He said it would be prudent to keep the temporary shelters up in case they were needed again soon.
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Immigration minister Robert Jenrick tells MPs number of migrants at Manston now back below its 1,600 capacity
In the Commons Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, is responding to the urgent question about Manston processing centre for migrants.
He says people in safe countries should not be travelling to the UK to claim asylum.
He says the French have stopped more than 29,000 crossings this year, and destroyed more than 1,000 boats.
But 40,000 people have crossed the Channel this year, he says.
He says it was necessary to hold some people at Manston for longer than usual. But the Home Office is now sourcing more bed spaces, he says.
He says at 8am this morning the population at Manston was back below 1,600 – its official capacity.
He says this is a big improvement on last week.
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Sunak says he wants to await outcome of inquiry into Gavin Williamson complaint before deciding his future
Rishi Sunak was also asked by the BBC’s Chris Mason about Gavin Williamson, and he restated his view that the language used by Williamson towards Wendy Morton was unacceptable. He said Williamson was currently being subject to a complaints process. And, in what may not bode well for the minister, Sunak said he wanted to let that process run its course before he acted.
Asked why Williamson was allowed to continue as a minister if his language was not acceptable, Sunak replied:
There’s an independent complaint process that’s being conducted at the moment. It will be right to let that process conclude before making any decisions about the future.
In his first answer on this topic Sunak said the inquiry was already under way. He said that Williamson’s language was “not right [and] not acceptable”, and that he welcomed the fact Williamson had expressed regret about it.
Updated
Sunak says it would not be honest to say there is 'one simple solution' to problem of small boat Channel crossings
Rishi Sunak has said there is “not one simple solution” to the problem of people crossing the Channel on small boats. In an interview with the BBC’s Chris Mason, Sunak refused to answer when asked when the government would be able to start cutting the number of people making that crossing, or by how much. He replied:
We all want this situation to resolve itself as quickly as possible. I also want to be honest with people that it’s a complex issue. It’s not one simple solution that’s going to solve it overnight. I wouldn’t be being honest if I said that there was. There’s a range of things we need to do.
But what I want people to be reassured by is that I absolutely am determined to grip this. I’ve been spending an enormous amount of my own time on it. I’ve been talking to several European leaders about it today. And there’s a range of things that we will action as quickly as we can to get a grip of the situation and reduce the amount of illegal migration that we’re seeing.
I will post more from the interview shortly.
The former environment secretary, George Eustice, has defended Gavin Williamson over his messages to Wendy Morton. In an interview with Times Radio, Eustice said that the row about the messages was “a minor storm in a teacup in the scheme of things” and that he was surprised Morton submitted a formal complaint to CCHQ. “People do sometimes have rash moments, say things that they shouldn’t say, and it probably should just be dealt with in a less onerous way than going through some process, in my view,” Eustice said.
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EU and UK not 'worlds apart' on solving Northern Ireland protocol problem, says Šefčovič
The EU and UK positions on the protracted Northern Ireland Brexit dispute are not “worlds apart” and can be solved, the European Commission vice president Maroš Šefčovič has said.
He was speaking as it emerged that Brussels was about to start testing a live data feed from HMRC listing the precise goods arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
The access represents a significant breakthrough in negotiations between Brussels and London and will give both sides evidence for the first time on what goods entering ports in Northern Ireland stay in the country and what precisely goes over the border to the republic.
Speaking at a specially convened Westminster assembly of 70 parliamentarians from both the EU and the UK, Šefčovič said both sides more or less agreed on the need to allow goods destined to remain in Northern Ireland to pass unimpeded from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
But there was some minor disagreement on level of checks for smuggled goods. He told the new EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly (PPA):
Our respective positions are not worlds apart.
A lot has been said about “a UK’s green lane” versus “an EU’s express lane”.
The issue here boils down to “no checks” versus “minimum checks”, stemming from Brexit itself.
The UK wants no checks on goods destined to remain in Northern Ireland but the EU is arguing minimum checks are needed to guard against rogue goods not complying with EU standards or diseased good products going across the border into the republic.
The UK’s minister for Europe, Leo Docherty, told the PPA that his “priority” was to “strengthen the relationship”.
Updated
Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, reiterated their commitment to finding a resolution to the Northern Ireland protocol problem in their bilateral, No 10 said. In the readout a spokesperson said:
On the Northern Ireland protocol, the prime minister reiterated the need to find solutions to the very real problems it had created on the ground in Northern Ireland. They agreed on the importance of working together to agree a resolution.
Downing Street has released a readout from Rishi Sunak’s three bilateral meetings at Cop27 so far – with Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, with Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, and with Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister. As usual, the readouts of these meetings are remarkably bland, but No 10 does say the meeting with Meloni, who heads a far-right coalition, was “positive”. It says:
The leaders had a positive discussion on a range of shared issues and priorities, including tackling illegal migration and people-smuggling gangs.
Reflecting on the UN climate summit, they noted the importance of addressing climate change for our long-term security and prosperity.
The prime minister highlighted the shock to global energy and food prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the leaders agreed to continue to take strong action to support Ukraine and hold Russia to account for its actions.
The prime minister and prime minister Meloni welcomed the opportunity to meet at the start of their respective premierships and looked forward to working closely together, building on the strong partnership between the UK and Italy.
Updated
Starmer dismisses claims that Labour purging leftwingers, saying party just ensuring it gets 'very best' candidates
Keir Starmer has dismissed claims that leftwing candidates are being purged by Labour ahead of the next election. Speaking to reporters this morning, he said the priority was getting “the very best candidates” in place. He said:
We are preparing for the next election, the sooner the better.
I am determined to have a team of incoming MPs, who are the team for the future.
We will have a big challenge and so of course we are making sure we have got the very best candidates to put before the public for that general election which we so desperately need.
At the weekend the Telegraph ran a story saying “a number of leftwing candidates have been blocked from standing for Labour at the next election in what sources have said is a biased move against supporters of Jeremy Corbyn.” But one of the best recent accounts of what has been happening is in today’s Times, where Patrick Maguire has a column saying that of the 39 candidates selected so far in the seats that Labour must win if it is going to form a government, not one has been won by a leftwinger. Maguire says:
Two years ago, Starmer promised to give local members full control over selections. Yet since day one of his leadership he has delegated the important but dirty business of professionalising/preparing for government/purging — it’s all the same thing — to a tight circle of flea-bitten faction fighters from the party’s old right and New Labour wings, and conscientious objectors who kept the Blairite faith during the Corbyn years. In so far as they vet candidates, insiders insist, it is to stop anyone capable of bringing a Labour government into disrepute getting anywhere near a ballot paper, even in the safest of Tory seats.
Maguire says Starmer’s allies say people are being excluded not on the grounds of ideology, but on the grounds of competence. But it is leftwingers who are losing out.
Updated
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross says he would sack shadow minister using language like Gavin Williamson's
Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, said that he would sack an MSP from a shadow ministerial job if they sent message to a colleague like those sent by Gavin Williamson to Wendy Morton. In an interview with Times Radio, he said language of that kind was unacceptable. Asked if he would sack someone from the frontbench for communication like that, he replied:
Yes, they wouldn’t be in my frontbench with the language that’s been used.
Updated
In response to the question about Gavin Williamson’s responsibilities at the Cabinet Office (see 12.25pm), a spokesperson said full details of ministerial responsibilities would be confirmed “shortly” and published on the government’s website.
Technically Williamson is a “minister without portfolio”. But even a minister without portfolio has to have some sort of portfolio. There must be something he will be expected to do.
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson also said work was ongoing to replace Lord Geidt as the No 10 ethics adviser (or independent adviser on ministers’ interest, to use the formal title). The post has been vacant since Geidt resigned when Boris Johnson was PM. It is understood candidates are being considered now, and that an appointment might be made before Christmas.
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No 10 defends trade minister's right to visit Taiwan in face of criticism from China
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson defended the government’s decision to send trade minister Greg Hands to Taiwan. Asked about China’s criticism of the visit (see 11.59am), the spokesperson said:
We have a long-established trade relationship with Taiwan, it’s worth £8bn a year.
These are annual talks between the UK and the ministry of economic affairs in Taiwan, we have a vibrant, long-standing relationship on areas like trade and culture, and this will form part of that engagement.
No 10 says Sunak favours aid to poorer countries affected by climate crisis, but not 'reparations'
Conservative supporters who read the main pro-Tory newspapers may have found this morning’s offering rather confusing. The Daily Mail led on a story implicitly criticising “Red Ed” Miliband for proposing that the UK pays “climate change damages”, as it put it in the headline, to poorer countries most affected by the climate crisis.
Monday's Mail: Red Ed: UK Must Pay Climate Change Damages #TomorrowsPapersToday #DailyMail #Mail pic.twitter.com/qYMhhNZTlU
— Tomorrows Papers Today (@TmorrowsPapers) November 6, 2022
But the Daily Telegraph splashed on a story saying that the same policy could end up being adopted by Rishi Sunak – or “Red Rishi” as perhaps the Mail will be calling him tomorrow.
Monday's Telegraph: Britain opens door to climate reparations #TomorrowsPapersToday #DailyTelegraph #Telegraph pic.twitter.com/nN8roV3oSN
— Tomorrows Papers Today (@TmorrowsPapers) November 6, 2022
In fact, as the Mail story acknowledges several paragraphs in, Miliband said yesterday he was not explicitly calling for the UK to pay “reparations”. He said the terminology mattered, because some people “are allergic to the term reparations”. Miliband said he was talking about the need for the UK and others to help poorer countries facing massive problems.
And this is broadly the UK government’s position too. At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson said the UK was already helping poorer countries deal with the consequences of climate change. He went on:
My understanding is that neither reparations or liability is what’s being discussed at Cop27. It’s about working together to support a climate vulnerable countries …
We are not talking about reparations or liability. We are talking about continuing to provide support for countries to adapt to the impact of climate change.
This morning the Guardian published an article in the Cop27 secret negotiator series (articles by Cop27 negotiators from developing countries, speaking with more candour because they are writing anonymously), addressing this very issue. Here is an extract.
One of the key issues is whether the agenda item should include the terms “liability” and “compensation”. The developed countries want a footnote that says the ideas of liability and compensation are excluded. This goes back to article 8 of the Paris agreement. In paragraph 51 of the decision text on the Paris agreement, it says liability and compensation are excluded from loss and damage.
But in the original treaty, the 1992 UNFCCC, they are not excluded. So we want to leave this open, to be freer in our discussions, by not having these exclusions referred to in the agenda item. Developed countries won’t agree.
And here is the full article.
Updated
There will be an urgent question in the Commons at 3.30pm about the situation at the Manston migrant processing centre. It has been tabled by Sir Roger Gale, whose North Thanet constituency covers Manston. A Home Office minister will respond.
Boris Johnson has managed to infuriate Nigel Farage, the former leader of Ukip and then the Brexit party, with his speech this morning. (See 11.18am.) Farage, like some MPs on the Tory right, is also sceptical of net zero policies, and at one point he was actively pushing for a referendum on them.
Watching @BorisJohnson speak at COP 27 this morning. I think he and Ed Miliband should be in the same party. Perhaps the truth is that they already are.
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) November 7, 2022
No 10 says Gavin Williamson has 'important contribution' to make to government and retains PM's full confidence
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson said Rishi Sunak retains “full confidence” in Gavin Williamson. That was not particularly surprising, because Williamson has not been sacked and the “full confidence” question is always a binary one; either the answer is yes, or the minister is out.
But the spokesperson confirmed that Williamson is still being investigated by the Conservative party. Asked why Williamson was still in government if Sunak thought his messages to Wendy Morton were unacceptable, the spokesperson replied:
As you know, there is a process going on. I think, obviously, that’s run by the Conservative party. So, it’s not one for me.
I think the prime minister has said that it’s right to let that process happen and he welcomes that Gavin Williamson has expressed regret about those comments, which as you say he doesn’t think are acceptable.
Asked why Williamson was given a job, the spokesperson replied: “Obviously [the PM] thinks he has an important contribution to make to government.” But the spokesperson was unable to say much about what this important contribution might involve. He said Williamson would be involved in the GREAT campaign, a campaign to promote the UK, but otherwise he said the Cabinet Office would be able to give details of Williamson’s full ministerial responsibilities.
I’ve approached the Cabinet Office, and will publish their reply when I get it.
UPDATE: The Cabinet Office said they would publish the details shortly. See 1.25pm.
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Starmer says Sunak's initial decision not to attend Cop27 gave impression 'UK no longer wants to be leading on global stage'
Speaking to reporters during a visit this morning, Keir Starmer criticised Rishi Sunak for initially saying he would not attend the Cop27 summit. Explain how a Labour government would take a different approach on climate issues, Starmer said:
The first difference a Labour government would make is that you would have a prime minister who wanted to go to Cop because we realise just how important it is, because we realise that is not just about climate, it is also about the cost of living, it is about energy, it is about the next generation of jobs.
You would have a prime minister, a Labour prime minister, on the world stage, pulling leaders together. I think Rishi Sunak made a big mistake in saying initially he wouldn’t go, because it gave the impression that the UK no longer wants to be leading on the global stage.
Starmer also said he hoped Sunak would use his meeting with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to discuss how the UK and France can “work upstream” to reduce the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats. Starmer said:
I would, of course, talk to President Macron about those who are crossing the Channel and the focus for my discussion would be on how we work upstream to stop the people smugglers. Before I was a politician I was director of public prosecutions, I know how these cross-border operations work.
We would work with France, upstream, to stop the smugglers in the first place. That is the discussion I would have, I hope it is the discussion that our prime minister will have.
Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
Updated
China criticises UK government for sending trade minister Greg Hands to Taiwan for talks
China has lashed out at the UK for sending trade minister Greg Hands to talks in Taiwan, insisting that “official contacts” with the self-governing island republic must cease, PA Media reports.
Hands is kicking off a two-day visit with discussions aimed at “boosting trade” and promoting UK expertise in hydrogen and offshore wind. He is due to meet President Tsai Ing-wen and co-host the UK-Taiwan 25th annual Trade Talks in Taipei during the trip.
But China – which claims Taiwan as its own territory and has threatened to annex the island by force – has urged Britain to back off, PA Media reports. At a daily briefing, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said the UK should uphold the so-called “one-China principle” and stop “any forms of official contacts with Taiwan”. Zhao said:
[The UK should] earnestly respect China’s sovereignty, uphold the one-China principle, stop any forms of official contacts with Taiwan and stop sending wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces.
In a statement quoted in the news release about his visit, Hands said: “Boosting trade with this vital partner is part of the UK’s post-Brexit tilt towards the Indo-Pacific and closer collaboration will help us future-proof our economy in the decades to come.”
Updated
Rishi Sunak has met Italy’s new far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, at the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt. As PA Media reports, the pair chatted about house building and planning while journalists were in the room at the start of the bilateral meeting.
Sunak and Meloni, Italy’s first woman premier, took office within days of each other last month. Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party leads the country’s first far-right-led government since the second world war.
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Starmer calls for Williamson to be sacked, saying he is 'not fit' to be in government
Keir Starmer has said Gavin Williamson should be sacked, because he is “not fit” be a government minister.
But, speaking to journalists this morning, the Labour leader focused his criticism on Rishi Sunak for giving Williamson a job as a minister without portfolio in the Cabinet Office, with the right to attend cabinet.
In a reference to the row about Suella Braverman being appointed home secretary as well, Starmer said:
It is so disappointing that yet again we’re having a discussion about the prime minister’s judgment, this time in relation to Gavin Williamson. He’s clearly got people around the cabinet table who are not fit to be there. That is because he was so weak and wanted to avoid an election within his own party and I think the only way out of this, because these debates are going to go on, because of the weak position the prime minister is in, I think we should say to the public, they should have a choice - do you want to carry on with this chaos or do you want the stability of a Labour government? That’s why I think there is such a powerful case for a general election.
Starmer seemed to be referring to the most infamous UK political tweet of the last decade – David Cameron’s “chaos with Ed Miliband” message about the choice facing voters at the 2015 general election.
Britain faces a simple and inescapable choice - stability and strong Government with me, or chaos with Ed Miliband: https://t.co/fmhcfTunbm
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) May 4, 2015
Asked if he was calling for Williamson to be sacked, Starmer replied:
I think that the prime minister has got people who are clearly not fit for the job around the cabinet table. Gavin Williamson has got history when it comes to breaches of security and leaking, etc. He is clearly not suitable, but the central focus really here is on the prime minister, to ask the question why has he put these people around the cabinet.
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Johnson implicitly accuses Tory net zero critics of peddling 'nonsense'
In his Q&A at the Cop27 summit Boris Johnson implicitly attacked fellow Conservatives who are sceptical of the drive towards net zero, accusing them of peddling “nonsense”. Some of these MPs have in the past been some of his strongest supporters.
Johnson did not refer to them directly, but he clearly had them in mind when he spoke about net zero scepticism and said it was time to “tackle this nonsense head on”. He went on:
Yes, of course, we do need to use hydrocarbons in the transitional period and, yes, in the UK there is more that we can do with our own domestic resources.
However, this is not the moment to abandon the campaign for net zero, this is not the moment to turn our backs on renewable technology.
In parliament almost all the opposition to the principle of net zero has come from Conservative MPs. Some of them belong to the Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG), which has been strongly criticised by environmentalists. The NZSG claims that it accepts the scientific evidence for climate change, but it thinks some of the measures being adopted by governments around the world to cut carbon emissions are unnecessary, or are being implemented too quickly.
The Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker is credited with setting up the NZSG. Baker was a leading Brexiter, and supported Johnson’s campaign for the Tory leadership in 2019. But earlier this year he decided it was time for Johnson to quit as PM, and when when Johnson contemplated standing again last month, Baker said a Johnson comeback would be a “disaster”.
These are from my colleague Peter Walker on Johnson’s Q&A.
Making a speech at a side venue at Cop 27, Boris Johnson introduces himself as “the spirit of Glasgow, Cop 26”. Feels like there could be a, 'things were better under me' theme being quietly developed here. pic.twitter.com/Ulp4K3u4LY
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) November 7, 2022
It is politically interesting that Johnson – whatever his many motives – is using this speech to condemn the post-Ukraine net zero sceptics, many in his own party, including those who would “frack the hell out of the British countryside”. Even features criticism of the Telegraph.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) November 7, 2022
Even doing his best to make serious points, Johnson can't resist a self-referencing aside. He mentions the UK's summer heatwave, and half-jokingly wonders if was "perhaps even contributing to unexpected political turmoil in Westminster" - ie his removal as PM.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) November 7, 2022
Asked about a potential shift to scepticism over both climate action and supporting Ukraine in the US if the Republicans see a resurgence in the mid-terms, Johnson partly dodges the question but says he is "praying" for continued US action over both issues.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) November 7, 2022
Johnson repeatedly refusing to be drawn at all about Rishi Sunak initially declining to go to Cop 27, mock-modestly describing his role at the summit as being "a supporting spear-carrier”. On Westminster issues, "no one gives a monkey's", he says,
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) November 7, 2022
Updated
Rishi Sunak has met the EU Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, for talks at the UN Cop27 climate summit in Egypt. As PA Media reports, the pair smiled and thanked the media at the start of the meeting.
Afterwards Von der Leyen said she looked forward to a “constructive” relationship.
Good first meeting with Prime Minister @RishiSunak in the margins of #COP27
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) November 7, 2022
We face many common challenges, from tackling climate change and the energy transition to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
I look forward to a constructive 🇪🇺🇬🇧cooperation based on our agreements. pic.twitter.com/TeInbLKVSn
Shapps says Home Office was 'in danger' of breaking law with conditions at Manston when he replaced Suella Braverman as home secretary
Grant Shapps, the business secretary, has said that the Home Office was “in danger” of breaking the law because of conditions at the Manston processing centre for asylum seekers when he was appointed to replace Suella Braverman as home secretary.
Braverman has been strongly criticised for allowing the camp to become overcrowded. She has been accused of ignoring legal advice saying that it would be illegal for migrants to be detained in the camp for more than 24 hours, and of refusing to commission extra hotel accommodation for them. She has denied both these claims. But insiders have claimed that conditions did start to improve when Shapps became home secretary.
In an interview with Sky News, asked why he wanted to move people into hotels, Shapps said:
Simply that we’ve got to be careful not to break the law ourselves by detaining people who are able to be outside of that – well, it’s not a detention centre, but a processing centre at Manston.
So, really just a question of making sure that we were acting within the law. That’s something that the home secretary is continuing to do now.
Asked whether that meant the Home Office was breaking the law under the policies pursued by Braverman, Shapps said:
The advice I had was very clear – that we were in danger of doing that if we weren’t acting. I did act during six days in the job.
Shapps was home secretary for less than a week, and he was replaced by Braverman. With media attention now focused on the scandal of overcrowding at Manston, the Home Office has now been reducing numbers at the camp.
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In his Q&A at the Cop27 summit Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, said the world was failing to honour the promises on net zero made at Cop26 at Glasgow. My colleague Bibi van der Zee has full coverage on her Cop27 live blog.
In his interview with the Sun on his flight to Egypt Rishi Sunak restated his opposition to Matt Hancock taking part in I’m a Celebrity. “I was very disappointed,” Sunak told the paper, saying MPs should be working for their constituents.
Monday's Sun: Rishi Raps Celeb Hancock #TomorrowsPapersToday #TheSun #Sun pic.twitter.com/CS5SkOcBFB
— Tomorrows Papers Today (@TmorrowsPapers) November 6, 2022
Sunak was also asked about the rather more consequential topic of what will be in next week’s autumn statement, but the headline on its write-up of his reply – “I’ll be a Santa not a Scrooge for Britain, vows Rishi Sunak” – may turn out to be the least accurate that ever gets written about what will in effect be another colossal budget. It was prompted by Sunak’s evasive reply to a question about whether the budget would make him Santa or Scrooge.
The accurate answer, of course, is neither – because even Scrooge never imposed fiscal tightening on a scale envisaged for next week. As my colleague Jessica Elgot reports, the latest steer is that it will include tax rises and spending cuts totalling £60bn, including at least £35bn in cuts.
At one point government sources were indicating that spending cuts would account for 50% of the savings, with tax rises delivering the other 50%, but it now seems that spending cuts will account for a bigger share of the economising than originally planned. However, the new figures would still make Jeremy Hunt, the current chancellor, more of a tax raiser than George Osborne. When Osborne became chancellor in 2010, his austerity programme was 80% cuts, and just 20% tax increases.
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Grant Shapps, the business secretary, was the No 10 voice on the airwaves this morning. In an interview with Sky News, he said Gavin Williamson should not have sent aggressive messages to Wendy Morton. Shapps said:
I don’t think it was the right thing to do, to send messages like that. I see they must have been sent in a moment of frustration. I think, generally, it is the case that it’s much better to write things which you would not live to regret later.
And especially with colleagues, writing things which are polite, even if you have a point of view to express, I think is not unreasonable. So, I don’t think he was right to send them. The prime minister said the same. I know that the party is going through a process looking at them at the moment.
My colleague Peter Walker has the full story here.
And here is the clip.
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Rishi Sunak under fresh pressure over Gavin Williamson as new allegation emerges
Good morning. Rishi Sunak is in Egypt, attending the Cop27 climate summit, in his first overseas visit as prime minister. And, like all prime ministers, he is learning that, although you can take the prime minister out of Westminster, you can never leave it behind, because domestic political hassle continues to clog up your in-tray, even on a day when you want to focus on international issues and hobnobbing with world leaders. One such problem for Sunak is Gavin Williamson.
On Friday and over the weekend it emerged that Sunak had appointed Williamson a Cabinet Office minister, with the right to attend cabinet, even though the Conservative party is considering a complaint about him from Wendy Morton. She says he sent her offensive, threatening messages when she was chief whip, because he was angry about not being invited to attend the Queen’s funeral.
As he flew to Egypt for the summit, Sunak told the Sun in an interview that the messages from Williamson were “not acceptable”. He said:
They were not acceptable or right. It was a difficult time for our party at the time, but regardless, people always should be treated with respect.
I am glad Gavin has expressed regret. There is an independent complaint process which is running, its right and reasonable we let that conclude.
Sunak says he did not read Williamson’s messages until yesterday. But he has not denied being aware of them when he appointed Williamson to his government. (No one seems quite sure what Williamson is doing as minister without portfolio at the Cabinet Office, and the appointment looked as if it might have more to do with rewarding an influential supporter than enhancing. the performance of the government.)
Some would argue that, if the messages were unacceptable, having Williamson in government should not be acceptable either. That is not Sunak’s position as of now, but this morning the Times has made it harder for Sunak to keep Williamson by reporting a fresh allegation about Williamson’s conduct when he was chief whip. In their story, Steven Swinford and Gabriel Pogrund say a minister (who they have not named) has claimed that “Williamson raised details about her private life during a conversation in an attempt to silence her while she was on the back benches”. Swinford and Pogrund report:
The Tory MP, who told the Conservative party at the weekend that she was willing to discuss the matter, said that Williamson had called her into his office when he was chief whip in 2016.
At the time she was campaigning on an issue that was causing the government difficulty. During the meeting Williamson is said to have raised a sensitive issue about her private life, which she interpreted as a tacit threat.
Allies of Williamson denied that he had been trying to silence the MP and said that he had raised the issue in a “pastoral capacity”.
Monday's Times: Billions more spent in UK will count as foreign aid #TomorrowsPapersToday #TheTimes #Times pic.twitter.com/kXeQmm4WU4
— Tomorrows Papers Today (@TmorrowsPapers) November 6, 2022
We are likely to hear more on this as the day goes on.
My colleague Bibi van der Zee will be covering Cop27 on a separate live blog.
I will cover some of the UK line from Cop27 here, but I will largely be focusing on non-Cop issues. Here is the agenda for the day.
8.10am (UK time): Rishi Sunak is due to hold a bilateral meeting with Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, at the Cop27 summit in Egypt. He also has bilaterals scheduled with Giorgia Meloni, the new Italian prime minister, at 9.15am, and with Emmanuel Macron, the French president, at 2pm.
8.45am: Boris Johnson, the former PM, is due to speak at a New York Times event at Cop27.
11.30am: Sunak speaks at a roundtable event at Cop27. He is also due to be taking part in an afternoon event.
Morning: Keir Starmer is on a visit this morning linked to Labour’s green prosperity plan.
2pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, speaks at a Cop27 event.
2.30pm: Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
4pm: James Bowler, the new permanent secretary at the Treasury, gives evidence to the Commons public accounts committee, about the creation of the UK infrastructure bank.
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